Circa late September, 1998.
[ The Sport of Survival ]
1.
Koch was attaching a large stainless revolver to the strap on his thigh.
"Something that heavy is gonna slow you down." Said Browning.
Koch looked up, eyeing the large bore handgun, with an attached scope of all things, that Browning was loading.
"Shoulder-holster." Browning said. Koch nodded and went about attaching the grenade launcher to his M4 rifle.
The apartment they were holed up in was safe for the moment. They had barricaded every possible entrance. The living room was a virtual armory, guns strewn about everywhere. Koch stepped into the bathroom and reached in the bathtub. He picked up a large polymer case that held his Barret M82. If placed down gently, it was heavy enough to crush a child.
"This may take two trips." Browning said, looking over the six sports bags.
"Three." Koch said. Each bag was heavy. They'd get bitten carrying two each down to the truck. Browning stood there in agreement. He didn't have to nod for Koch to notice.
Both men were wearing Level IV body armor, though they had taken out the ceramic plates. Those seemed useless against things that bit and scratched. They even had clear riot shields, which had been thrown out the window earlier right next to the armored truck. Each man was wearing elbow and kneepads along with Kevlar helmets and face shields. Not an inch of skin was showing, except around their eyes. One would have to stare them in the face with all that gear on to tell them apart, as they were the same height and build.
Koch heaved one bag onto his shoulder and swung it around so it hung on his back. He picked up his short-barreled Mossberg from the coffee table and made sure the cocking arm's sling was around his hand. Browning heaved one bag onto a shoulder and swung it around onto his back, un-holstering his STI Eagle. He kicked the cabinet blocking the door over some and shoved it away. Holding his breath, he opened the door. Koch stepped out the doorway, and the blasting began.
"Reload." Koch said as he popped a few shells into the shotgun's magazine tube. Browning pistol-whipped one zombie that lunged for Koch and stomped its head after it fell. The floor was littered with shredded and freshly dropped bodies as the two had decided to clear the ground floor for an easier trip back upstairs. This was now their third trip. Koch slowly walked up the stairs as he reloaded and Browning followed behind, shooting two zombies one by one as they wandered in the main doorway.
Browning reloaded and slung the third back on his back, picking up the M82 case as well. Koch picked up their final bag. Together they stepped out of the apartment and down the stairs again.
Outside, the armored truck was finally fully loaded. It had previously belonged to the Raccoon City Bank, but now it was under new ownership of the two-man team. As Koch stepped in through the back and into the driver seat, he noticed the roadblock up ahead. Browning noticed it also as he closed the backdoors and stepped up front.
"Can't ram it." Koch said.
"Go for it anyway." Browning replied.
The steel barricade twisted and flew apart as the truck broke through it, sending sparks over the windshield. Koch accelerated down the new street, plowing through several smaller cars. They were in the heart of the city, where just last night the RPD had made its final and catastrophic stand against the undead. The street they were on was about a block away from the RPD, which they guessed to be overrun by now. They approached another roadblock, this one seeming larger as it had a police car caught up in it. Koch pulled to a stop in front of it, eyeing the group of zombies slowly pouring in through the alleys around the truck.
Koch backed up the truck to the end of the street and put it in park.
"Get on the roof and clear a path for me with the RPK." Koch said.
Browning immediately went in the back and armed the desired weapon. He attached a 100-round drum to it and carried two more with him as he opened the back doors and climbed onto the roof. Koch un-strapped his stainless Colt Python and stepped out the back also, shutting the doors behind him and leaving them unlocked. Browning set up belly down on the roof, and held the stock of the machine gun firm against his shoulder. He aimed the iron sights at the growing mob directly down the street. Koch lowered his faceplate and then hit the side of the truck several times.
The first wave of the approaching mob was cut down by Browning's machine gun fire. He made sure to aim for their upper chest, mostly hitting them above the chest-plate or in the neck. Koch looked back to make sure none were approaching from the other end of the street.
"Go for it!" Browning yelled as the mob was now softened down to only a few standing remnants. He quickly switched to single-shot fire and picked these off.
Koch jogged forward, noticing a few zombies still squirming on the ground. He quickly climbed halfway up the barricade and holstered his revolver. He produced a block of C4 and attached a delayed charge to it, then laid flat and reached his arm down to place the explosive inside the center of the barricade. Suddenly Browning was firing again, and Koch could hear moaning from his left side. He quickly dropped the explosive and un-holstered his handgun, getting up.
"Reload!" Browning yelled, his rifle firing empty.
Too late, as Koch was now being faced with a new group pouring in through the alley next to the barricade. He took aim on the closest zombie's head and pulled the trigger, chunking it and the one behind it. Then he ran back to the truck as Browning finally finished reloading and sprayed the gathering mob in front of the barricade.
"Fire in the hole!" Koch yelled at Browning, and dove under the truck. Browning quickly let go of the machine gun, pulled down his face-plate, and held his arms over his head.
The barricade suddenly became a one-ton hand grenade as it exploded and showered the nearby zombies in shrapnel. They were torn to shreds as arms, legs, torsos, and heads were cut off. One zombie still stood with both its arms missing. Its head was hanging half-severed on one shoulder as it lumbered forward and then fell on its face.
Browning slowly raised his head, and a giant metal beam landed vertically onto the pavement, right in front of the truck. He didn't jump until the beam fell just to his right, barely missing him and the roof. "Shit…" He murmured, then heard Koch firing behind the truck.
"Got more of them coming!" Koch yelled as he took down only the closest approaching zombies pouring into the main street behind the truck.
"Start the truck!" Browning yelled back. He quickly held the RPK against his shoulder, and turned around on the roof of the truck. The new mob was even larger than the last, and they all let out a wail of moaning as they spotted the truck. Browning took aim and squeezed the trigger, plowing a straight line down the middle of the crowd. Specks of bone and cartilage flew into the air as they fell backwards, arms swinging upward. The moaning was drowned out by the thud of lead meeting dead flesh. Koch started the engine of the truck, and left the keys in the ignition. He removed the Mossberg, which he'd lodged in the door's handle, and headed to the back of the truck again.
Hearing the shotgun fire underneath him, Browning immediately hoisted the machine gun up and stood. He climbed and jumped down the side of the truck, sprinting to the driver side door.
Koch closed and locked the back doors as the truck slowly moved forward,
"We're clear!" He yelled to the front seat.
Then he fell forward right into the backdoors as Browning floored the gas. The truck took off straight through the ruined remnants of the barricade, and there were several thuds as the truck plowed into a fresh straggle of zombies.
"Did we just get a flat?" Koch said, stepping up front.
"No, body stuck under the front wheel."
So far, so good.